Meditation
by Nightwing's Apprentice
Summary: Noah is feeling stressed out with his parents' constant badgering of him to take part in religion, but that all changes once a certain moonchild comes to his aid-though her help may be a bit more than what he thought it would be. Rated T because I'm paranoid.


**AN: Hello, fellow Fanfictioners... or whatever people call us. Anyways, this is my first story, a little thing I wrote up when I was bored, and I hope you guys like it. It may be just this one chapter, or I might add more, depends on if I feel like being an asshole or not. I accept criticism, just not random flaming, and would actually be grateful for advice, tips, or pointing out anything I've done wrong. Tallstar out!**

**MEDITATION**

Noah scanned the email thoroughly, looking between lines, trying to find or decipher a different meaning. Nothing. The email was so simple, so plain, there couldn't have been any loopholes or twists to it.

_To our beloved son:_

_We are concerned about your atheistic ways and attitude; therefore, we have signed you up with a special therapist—a conversion therapist, if you will. He wasn't the easiest person to find, but we assure you that he can fully convert you back to Hinduism through his own methods once you get home from the Playa._

_With love and hugs,_

_Mom and Dad_

Noah groaned and banged the back of his head against the wall behind him. For years his parents had been trying to get him to establish a belief in Hinduism, but he just… he _couldn't. _Noah couldn't believe in one God, let alone hundreds upon hundreds of them. It all seemed too illogical, and Noah was a man of logic and science; he only believed in things that were scientifically proven. Plus, why did his parents care about what he believed in? Couldn't he just live life peacefully, without acknowledging the existence of a supposed God—or _gods_?

"I don't understand!" Noah exclaimed, unlike his usual self. "Throughout these whole four frickin' seasons, all they've sent me was emails about me converting back to Hinduism, and believing in gods, and celebrating our holidays and whatever! No!"

A knock on his door cut off Noah's complaints. He placed his laptop on the bed and hopped off to unlock it. Dawn was there, somehow meditating, mid-air, in lotus position in the middle of the hallway.

"Dawn? What is it?" inquired Noah.

"I felt an aura of distress and rage through the door; it was an unsightly red and black," the moonchild replied. "What's going on?"

Noah raised an eyebrow. "Like _you'd _be any help with this."

Dawn closed her eyes for a few moments, still in the position, and right when Noah thought she had gone into a coma and was about to go lock himself in his room again, her eyes shot open. "So your parents are forcing their own religion upon you?"

The second eyebrow went up. "Y-yes… And I'm not even going to question how you figured that out."

"Come with me," Dawn planted both feet on the ground and started walking down the hallway towards the TDROTI contestants area.

The cynic stood in place for a second, then shrugged. "Not like I have anything else to do at 2:40 in the morning."

He walked silently up to Dawn as she lead him to her room. It was pretty much like he expected; yoga mats, dreamcatchers, lots of windows and pet cages with hamsters and chinchillas and parakeets. Dawn beckoned Noah over to the yoga mats; she sat on the red one and let Noah take the blue one.

"Alright, so now what?" Noah crossed his arms over his chest.

"We talk and meditate," answered Dawn.

"I thought meditation was supposed to be silent? Or were my parents wrong about that, just like they were wrong about me _needing _to be religious?"

"So I'm bending the rules a bit, big deal."

Noah chuckled. "I see you've been spending some time with Scott? It seems like his attitude's rubbing off on you."

"Never mind that, let's just de-stress our selves. Lotus position, if you please."

"Do I have to be able to float, too?"

Ignoring that, Dawn got into position and closed her eyes, whispering some words Noah couldn't quite make out.

"What are you saying, Luna?"

Dawn finished her words before replying. "Whenever I need to calm myself, I list everything I'm grateful for, like good health, a family, food on my table every night, etcetera. Try it."

"Alright. I'm thankful for my medical records, including several life-threatening allergies and asthma, for my family that can't seem to accept my differences, for the much-too-spicy Indian food my parents insist I eat whenever I simply want a salad or a cheeseburger—"

Dawn interrupted him with a curt cough. "No, no, no. Noah, I can't help you if you can't help yourself. Just relax, think about the good things in life."

"Like global warming, war, famine and poverty?"

No matter how peaceful the moonchild was, she was starting to get annoyed. "How about we skip this and just get on to the discussion?"

"Yeah, sure, I'll discuss my anti-religious problems with the most spiritual girl at the Playa, makes perfect sense.

"I don't think your problems include your gripes against religion. They include your complaints for your parents. I think the best thing you could do right now is let it loose. Release it to the world—or, at least, me—what you're stressed with; get it off your chest temporarily. I promise to keep my own opinions out of it; I'm only here to help, not to put down."

Reluctantly, Noah did. He told Dawn about how, ever since he was ten, got his hands on a Darwin book, did more research and told his parents he was proudly atheist, they were less supportive and noticeably more open with their religion, bringing it up in every day conversations as subtle hints to him. How they signed him up for conversion classes—the same type of classes some religious parents would put their homosexual child through in hopes of making them heterosexual—and had discussions weekly with him. How they became colder towards him whenever he refused to go the Hindu temple or celebrate Hindu holidays or pray to some of the major gods on certain occasions. It all just spilled out of Noah, who, despite being stoic most of the time, ended up fighting back tears. After the first couple sentences, he became more comfortable telling Dawn everything, sounding more confident but still emotional.

And although he wouldn't openly admit it, the main thing that kept him so at ease with telling Dawn was Dawn herself.

She had that kind of motherly, calm vibe that made you feel that everything was okay, that nothing bad would happen to you, that you could tell her everything and it would be alright. She also had that soothing voice that persuaded you to spill, and an expression of pure kindness. Even Noah, who was infamous in his hometown for his heart of ice, couldn't help but crack after a while.

When he was done with practically telling Dawn his life story, Dawn simply nodded.

"I understand. Have you ever tried to stand up to your parents? Tell them that they're not good parents if they can't respect your opinion, and that what you believe in doesn't change who you are?"

Noah sighed. "I have eight attention-monger siblings, working parents that have the attention span of a chipmunk, and several pets that need to be taken care of daily. When could I ever tell them that?"

"You could try emailing them back—you did bring your laptop here, did you not?"

"If it's not from work, they put all emails to spam."

"Well, when you get home, at what times are they free?"

And on Noah went, telling his life story yet again, and purposely over-detailing every sentence just to stay with Dawn longer. The only thing he didn't put into detail was the fact that he already had a plan to stand up to his parents—in fact, he didn't even mention that. He just felt so content with Dawn that he felt no need to leave.

When he finished, Dawn offered him some more advice, but it all went in one ear and out the other. Noah still nodded, though, and acted as if he heeded her advice.

"I was wondering…" Noah began, "I've been feeling really stressed these days. Would you mind if I come back for the next couple nights, y'know… just get some things off my chest?"

"Of course! Come back any time you feel stressed out; I won't mind," Dawn answered sincerely.

Noah cracked a rare grin and went back to his room. The next day, he went back to Dawn, talking about social issues from his past few years of school, then the day after that, social issues that could possibly happen once he departed from the Playa.

The subsequent day, Noah decided to talk about romantic issues.

"Noah, I'm sure there are plenty of girls that would love to have you as a boyfriend," assured Dawn, resting a hand on Noah's shoulder as they both sat in lotus position.

"Like who?" Noah asked. "The intern girl with a lisp and crooked teeth that named her cats Sméagol and Gollum?"

"No, somebody… someone who understands you—l-like me, but…"

Chuckling, Noah politely shook her hand off his shoulder. "I understand. We're just friends—like me and Izzy, though you wouldn't think that if you read our fanfiction…"

"I think I've seen you paired up with Katie more than Izzy," admitted Dawn.

"Katie?! I barely speak to her! And how could I ever put up with that squealing? Ugh! Anyways, can we get back on topic? Do you think there will ever be a girl that likes me romantically?"

Dawn stood up, bent over, and kissed Noah on the cheek. "Oh, I wouldn't worry about it."


End file.
